Time to Say Goodbye

 

Last week in this space, I regaled you with sample vignettes of some of the lousy jobs I have held during my career. And conversely, there have been positions that have been nothing short of terrific with occasional fringe benefits exceeding anything I could have imagined.

Regardless of job satisfaction, I fielded an odd question during a recent CPE session from an attendee who stated that they were unhappy in their current capacity at a mid-sized CPA firm and wanted to leave but did not want to torch any of those proverbial “bridges.”

In full disclosure, our company specializes in succession – not recruiting. We have occasionally placed folks at accounting firms, but human resources is a niche we frequently outsource to those far more experienced in that arena.

But speaking from experience, I said that if nothing else, go to your direct report and tell them outright that you have accepted another opportunity. Thank them for the chance given you and then always follow that with a formal letter of resignation. It’s often an uncomfortable sit down, but it is something that must be done. I’ve been on both sides of that equation a number of times and the last thing you want to hear from an employee is an unexpected, “Hey have you got a minute?”

You’re Hired! Um, No Thanks!

 

As someone who has been a member of the U.S. labor force since the early 1970s, you may have surmised that I have had my share of, shall we politely say, lousy or unpopular jobs. Since this is a family blog, I could have described some of them in far more graphic terms and although tempting, I must decline.

My first post was as a movie usher (remember when we still had them?) at $1.85 an hour and all the popcorn you could sweep up after each showing. And when kid’s movies came to town that was a special treat, keeping throngs of unruly brats in line and warning them not to toss Jujyfruits at each other which they, not surprisingly, did with alarming frequency.

The next summer I applied for a job advertised under the banner of “lot maintenance supervisor.” It was an industrial park and my “supervisory” duties consisted of shoveling huge piles of sawdust from one location to another. That paid a skimpy $3 an hour. And say what you want about the weight of sawdust, by 4 or 5 o’clock it felt like I was shoveling barbells.

Not to be outdone, the very next year the Department of Labor assigned me to help transform a shuttered clothing outlet into a home improvement store. All was routine until the tractor trailers carrying the inventory arrived. I spent the next two weeks in 100-degree heat pushing a hand truck back and forth. On the plus side, I did however shed 10 pounds.

Bloomingdales Thanks You for Your Recent Purchases!

 

Sundays in the Fall are fairly routine for yours truly.

After two XL size cups of black coffee, I meet Paul, my tennis partner of 30 years at 9 a.m. for a competitive best of three set singles match and afterwards settle down for the remainder of the afternoon to watch football.

Paul and I often text each other on reactions and observations to whatever game is featured in the New York market so you can imagine my surprise when I received a message on Sunday not from him, but an alert from the fraud department at American Express wanting to confirm that I had just spent $4,000 at trendy Bloomingdales.

Talk about a wake-up text!

Apparently, someone obtained my credit card number and proceeded to help themselves to the Bloomingdales inventory like an all-you-can-eat buffet. I immediately called AmEx to confirm that the exorbitant purchases were not mine – lest I chance being kicked out of the house by my enraged spouse.

The customer service rep apologized and promised a new card within two days. Hopefully the matter is settled. Hopefully.

But I got to thinking.

With the holidays encroaching and the pandemic restrictions gradually lifting how big a criminal enterprise was retail fraud – particularly credit card and online fraud?

Plenty big.

Is Good Help Really that Hard to Find?

 

In ancient times religious contemplatives often debated arcane issues such as how many angels could potentially fit on the head of a pin or what is the sound of one hand clapping? Meanwhile philosophers of the time attempted to find solutions to a conundrum – a difficult and often unanswerable problem.

Centuries later, we often find ourselves struggling in similar situations. i.e., “I didn’t get the job because I have no experience. But how can I get experience if no one will hire me?”

With good help harder to find and retain than uncovering rare truffles, CPA firm owners hardly need a refresher course on the meaning and effects of a conundrum when it pertains to staffing.

The ongoing labor shortage of young talent in accounting has impacted smaller firm owners who do not have the recruiting resources (or pocketbooks for that matter) of a larger practice, as subtly as a 2X4 crashing through a casement window.

As an example, take the case of a frustrated firm owner in the Northeast with whom I was recently granted an audience.